Archive

Food Bank Street Challenge returns for second year

October 29, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

The Food Bank Street Challenge has returned for its second annual year, motivating youth to help tackle the issue of food insecurity in their own community.

The challenge was originally started last fall and caught fire across Orangeville, the surrounding community, and towns throughout Canada, generating over 32,000 lbs of donations for food banks, 17,000 lbs of which was collected locally.

“We’re hoping that the challenge can blow up even bigger this year,” said Koven Payadachee, who started the Food Bank Street Challenge with his son last year.

The challenge runs now until Christmas (Dec. 25) and this year’s goal is to surpass the 32,000 lbs of non-perishables collected last year.

The way the challenge works is by dropping a letter off to all the houses on a particular street, asking that people leave non-perishable food donations on their front door at a designated time and date. At that time, the food is collected, brought to the local food bank, and weighed. Participants of the challenge then post how many pounds of food were collected to the “Food Bank Street Challenge” Facebook Page and challenge three of their friends to do the same.

The challenge began with Jaylen collecting donations from Meadow Drive two weeks ago, which was the original street that kicked off the challenge last year. A little over 200 lbs was collected.

Koven says the feedback from parents and youth who participated in the Food Bank Street Challenge last year was fantastic. It’s seen as a powerful way of teaching children about the importance of helping others and contributing to their community.

“When this all started, it was just over a conversation at the dinner table, where we wanted to make sure that our kids especially understood the importance of giving back,” says Koven.

To learn more about the Food Bank Street Challenge and how to get involved, visit their Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/795456647685618

Readers Comments (0)